Various types of apparatus have heretofore been provided to facilitate the removal of excess material from the surface of pottery greenware prior to firing of the pottery. A cleaning or scrubbing operation is required to also smooth surfaces of the greenware and remove particles of debris that have accumulated during the molding and forming operations. Such known prior art apparatus utilized for this purpose has generally comprised a rotor or wheel having a number of abrading devices secured to the outer perimeter thereof in angularly-spaced relationship. The abrading devices utilized on the prior art apparatus are most often bodies of material that are substantially porous and resiliently flexible such as sponges. The sponges are secured at one end in respective grooves formed in the outer peripheral surface of the rotor or wheel with the outer end or free end operative to engage and remove particles from the surfaces of the greenware. A disadvantage of this type of device is that it is a relatively large structure and is not capable of being utilized for the interior of many forms and styles of pottery shapes. Its relatively large diametrical dimension prohibits the rotor from being inserted through the narrow neck or between the narrowly spaced side-walls of many forms of pottery. Additionally, the mounting of sponges in this manner results in a relatively rapid wearing which requires frequent replacement of the sponges. In fact the wearing rate is so substantial that in the normal course of usage, the sponges are often sufficiently worn to a point that they must be replaced two or three times during a single working day.